MEMORIAL CHAPEL IN FLANDERS.
The Ypres Times.
213
Field-Marshal the Earl of Ypres died oil the 22nd of May, and the sorrow and gratitude
which found expression then make us confident that an appeal for a National Memorial to be erected
to his memory would meet with a ready response.
It appears to us that the late Field-Marshal's own ideas and wishes should be our guide as far as
possible as to the form the Memorial should take. There seems to be a clear indication of this in the
speech he made at Ypres last year on the 4th of August, the tenth anniversary of the opening of
hostilities.
He referred then to one pious and patriotic work that remained to be done, in that there was no
English Church for the many pilgrims that came from Home and Overseas to visit the places where
our dead soldiers have been laid to rest.
In this speech he showed his great solicitude for the welfare of relatives and descendants of the
fallen.
What better place could be chosen in which to set up his Memorial than the ancient town of
Ypres, which by his foiesight, his strategy, and his dogged resolution he saved
LORD
YPRES
APPEALING
FOR
MEMORIAL
CHAPEL.
For the Memorial to be a national one it is essential all should be able to join, and we propose
the erection of an Army Chapel to which all can go irrespective of Denomination.
The authorities at Ypres have generously offered us a site on the ramparts close to the Lille Gate.
The site is ideal from every point. It is easy of access to visitors, and it has the further advantage
of being close to the famous Rampart Cemetery, and though the cost of the foundations will be heavy
owing to the subsidence caused by shell-fire, etc., the position is so good that every effort should be
made to utilise it.
With our Memorial to the Missing {in which 60,000 names are being inscribed) at the Menin Gate,
and the Memorial to our great Field-Marshal Commander-in-Chief at the Lille Gate, future generations
will be made to realise the importance of the town of Ypres and the Ypres Salient, where a quarter
of a million of their forefathers gave their lives for King and Country.
We have deemed it expedient to submit the above scheme to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and
his reply to Lord Plumer seems to sum up the matter so admirably that we, with his permission, pub
lish his reply in extenso
The draft you have prepared for the appeal on August 4th commends itself to me as being
pointed and effective. There is appropriateness in connecting the scheme with the name of Lotd
Ypres, who made vigorous appeal for our commemorating in this way the heroes of the Ypres Salient
in the Great War.
This military association further makes it fitting that the Church when erected should have the
character belonging to our Garrison Churches, including its being available under proper regulations
for use by different denominations, if such use is desired.
"It is possible that this may not commend itself to all our friends, but to me it seems suitable
and right. I trust that your appeal may be abundantly successful."
Cheques can be paid direct to the Ypres Memorial Church Fund at Lloyds Bank, 6, Pall Mall,
London, S.W.I, or to the Honorary Secretary, Colonel F. G. Poole, 9, Baker Street, London.
PLUMER, F.-M.
W. P. PULTENEY, Lieut.-General.
